Feb 12, 2008 — See USA Today
Georgians will be able to water their azaleas and swim in their pools this spring after the state eased a ban on outdoor watering. Barely 400 miles away, residents of Raleigh, N.C., should be so lucky. Their city council just enacted the toughest water restrictions available, essentially banning all outdoor watering in Raleigh and six surrounding towns. Last year, South Carolina sued North Carolina over a plan by the N.C. cities of Concord and Kannapolis to withdraw 10 million gallons a day from the Catawba River. The suit is pending in U.S. Supreme Court. As the Southeast keeps growing, such fights are likely to intensify and multiply, says William Ferris, history professor and associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC. "You're absolutely going to see more of this kind of tension," he says. "We can see it out West in places like California and Arizona over the water in the Colorado River. We'll see that here."
